General C. C. Andrews, High-Placed Immigration Agent in Sweden

GENERAL C. C. ANDREWS,
HIGH-PLACED IMMIGRATION
AGENT IN SWEDEN
LARS LJUNGMARK
Many Minnesotans followed with eager interest the efforts
which were made toward the end of the 1860s to encourage
immigration to their young state. One of these was General
C. C. Andrews from St. Cloud who, in a letter to Governor
Marshall i n March, 1869, proposed that the official Minnesota
brochure should be sent to three thousand of Andrews'
former comrades in arms who were then living in Ohio,
Illinois, and Iowa. Andrews was willing himself to take care
of the distribution. One thousand numbers were immediately
sent to Andrews.1 Later during the year the general came to
have additional outlets for his interest in immigration to
Minnesota when he early in July found himself in Stockholm
as the minister of the United States to Sweden-Norway.
That in Minnesota there were high expectations for A n ­drews'
possibilities to work in Stockholm for an increased
immigration of Scandinavians to the state appears clearly
from the comments on his nomination which were made in
the leading newspaper of the state, the S t . P a u l D a i l y P r e s s.
The expectations were based on the fact that Andrews was
as a Minnesotan "representing a state, a large portion of
whose population was from Norway and Sweden." That A n ­drews
shared this view the newspaper indicated by speaking
of how, when he was named as ambassador to Stockholm
after first having been indicated as ambassador to Copen-
1 Andrews to Marshall, March 3, 1868, file 208, Governor's Paper [s?],
Minnesota State Archives.
84
hagen, "at once expressed his cordial willingness to acquiesce
in a change which would enable him to be more useful to his
State."2
It is therefore evident that in his home state Minister
Andrews in Stockholm was first of all thought of as a highly
placed immigration agent.for Minnesota. The question is
whether he became that or whether his federal position forced
a more all-inclusive American encouragement of emigration
on his part in Sweden and Norway? Was there, on the whole,
any such activity? These are the questions which the follow­ing
investigation of Andrews' period as minister of Stockholm
1869-1877 will attempt to answer. The investigation is mainly
based on material from Andrews' papers in the Minnesota
Historical Society's Manuscript Department i n St. Paul and
from State Department records in the National Archives in
Washington, D.C.
Emigration from Sweden was not an automatic movement
which, without influence, slowly but surely brought over
1,250,000 Swedes to the United States. It was to a high de­gree
the result of a conscious immigration promotion con­ducted
by parties interested in immigration to the United
States, such as the various states, land companies, land grant
railroads, the Atlantic shipping lines, and Swedish-Americans
independently and as groups. Their interest in increased im­migration
was connected with their having "goods" to sell,
"goods" that were sought by many Europeans not least of all
the Swedes. The important goods were land, work, and trans­portation.
In their "sales activities" advertising and informa­tion
about the product were included as a natural part. This
advertising and information was also conducted in Sweden
in letters from America, by means of the accounts of return­ing
emigrants, i n pamphlets, articles in newspapers, and ad­vertisements,
and became in Sweden the emigration prop­aganda
which came to mean so much for Swedish emigration.
To a large degree it was a matter of an organized propaganda
2 S t . P a u l D a i l y P r e s s , June 6, June 9,1869.
85
activity, and this organization was built up during the first
wave of mass Swedish emigration toward the end of the 1860s.
The propaganda drive was therefore in full action when Gen­eral
Andrews arrived in Stockholm during the summer of 1869
as minister of the United States.
The federal authorities in the U.S. also belonged to those
interested in increased European immigration to the United
States. The "product" they had to offer was the young country
of the future, the United States of America, with all its slum­bering
resources and potentialities. The federal authorities
had the same motivation to conduct a "sales campaign" in
Sweden as all of the other persons interested in immigration,
and during the Civil War a great deal of activity had been
shown in this connection.3 That Andrews was willing to take
a part himself in the activity was to be expected in the same
fashion as his desire in this way to encourage immigration to
his home state Minnesota.
The first period in Sweden for Andrews was quite naturally
a period of learning during which he became accustomed to
his new position in a new country. His energy, as it seems
from his diaries, was impressive. He began, for example, im­mediately
to take private lessons in Swedish.4 After a short
period he considered himself also capable, on the eve of the
coming year's immigration activity, to give his friends in
Minnesota some good advice. In a letter to Governor Marshall
he sent, therefore, a pamphlet which the Louisiana Board of
Immigration had distributed in Sweden. Andrews' hope was
that those favoring immigration to Minnesota could get a
few tips from the pamphlet. He himself in the letter spoke
mainly for another cheaper and better way of publicizing
3Florence Janson, T h e B a c k g r o u n d of S w e d i s h I m m i g r a t i o n (Chi­cago,
1931), p. 155 ff.
4Andrews' diaries are found in Andrews' Papers, Archives of the
Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul (hereafter abbreviated A . P . ) .
They have formed the basis for his memoirs which were published
after his death (C. C. Andrews, R e c o l l e c t i o n s 1 8 2 9 - 1 9 2 2 [Cleveland,
1928]). His time as minister in Stockholm is treated relatively fully.
Activities concerning the promotion of emigration are not, however,
mentioned.
86
advertising for Minnesota. B y means of advertisements sev­eral
weeks in a row in the most widely read newspapers in
Sweden one would be able to distribute "a concise practical
statement of the ways and means of obtaining and cultivating
advance homesteads under the Homestead Law."5 It was
entirely in order that the representative of the federal govern­ment
came with proposals for increased information concern­ing
the Homestead Law, but it is typical, however, that the
proposal was first sent to those who were favoring immigra­tion
to Minnesota. Another early proposal from Andrews also
emanated from his special concerns about immigration to
Minnesota. In letters to various Minnesotans, Andrews spoke
warmly about the reduction of postal rates between America
and Sweden. Such a reduction would, he maintained, encour­age
emigration from Scandinavia to Minnesota because it
would make possible a much more lively correspondence be­tween
Swedish-Americans and the old country. That Minne­sota,
with its great Scandinavian population, would have
special benefit from such a reform was obvious. In the letters
Andrews requested help with petitions and delegations to the
Postmaster General to whom he at the right time would
present the proposal.6
But Andrews did not restrict himself exclusively to giving
his own state Minnesota good advice. He began as early as the
autumn of 1869 with extreme care in regard to his position
to conduct a limited form of emigration propaganda. After
5Andrews to Marshall, November 20, 1869, A . P . , vol. 77.
6Andrews to L. K. Aaker (leading Norwegian in Minnesota), Aug­ust
11, 1869: Andrews to Marshall, September 12, 1868; Andrews to
Washburn (Minnesota senator), August 26, 1869; Andrews to Edwin
F. Johnson (chief engineer with the Northern Pacific), September 29,
1869, A . P . Pressures from Minnesota led to a statement by the Post­master
General in which he sympathized with the requests but point­ed
out that postage to the Scandinavian countries could not immedi­ately
be reduced since the mail was sent by way of northern Germany
and this postage rate would first have to be reduced ( S t . P a u l D a i ly
P r e s s , January 20, 1870). In the summer of 1873 Andrews, however,
had the satisfaction of ratifying an agreement on reduced postage
between the United States and Sweden-Norway. Postage was then
lowered from 14«! to 9^ to Sweden and from 154 to 10<* to Norway.
87
having obtained advice from Swedes in Minnesota, such as
Postmaster Oscar Roos from Taylor Falls, about which parts
of Sweden he should visit first from the standpoint of the
encouragement of immigration, he undertook, in September,
a journey to Värmland.7 The idea of the trip was to meet
Swedish workers and, as soon as the opportunity was offered,
to speak about America with them. Publicly it was Andrews'
intent to visit the Swedish iron works.8 How Andrews con­ducted
his Minnesota propaganda appears from the following
lines from a letter to the senator from Minnesota, Alexander
Ramsey: "Last September while visiting the iron mills in
Vermeland province, I probably saw and was recognized by
2,000 workmen. Of course I didn't recommend anybody to
emigrate but here and there a foreman, clerk, or mechanic
would tell me he had a brother doing this or that in some
part of the United States. I could speak encouragingly of their
prospects. What is said under such circumstances soon spreads
among hundreds."9 That Andrews spoke especially "encour­agingly"
about those who had settled in Minnesota is likely.
The proposals for making emigration propaganda more ef­fective,
which Andrews had already sent home to Minnesota
during his first six months in Stockholm, he presented to
Washington late in the spring of 1870. Then he also proposed
that increased information could be offered by means of a
map of America with the provisions of the Homestead act
printed in the margin.1 0 This did not result in any comment
or action from Washington.
Still another idea which, like the proposal for a reduction
of postal rates between America and Sweden, was based on
7Andrews to Roos, August 4, 1869, A.P. In the letter Andrews asks
also for information on the quality of the land a certain land company
is selling in the St. Croix valley. Andrews has been questioned about
this. At the same time, he is interested in how the Swedes have done
who settled in the St. Croix valley.
8The latter is the only motive mentioned in the R e c o l l e c t i o n s , p. 222.
'Andrews to Ramsey, April 6,1870, R a m s e y P a p e r s , M.H.S.
1 0Despatch 45, April 7, 1870, from U.S. Legation in Stockholm. De­partment
of State, National Archives, Washington, D.C. (hereafter
abbreviated N . A . ) .
88
the contact of the earlier emigrants with their old homes was
put forward by Andrews in 1870 both on the federal and state
level. During the spring he attempted through Senator Ram­sey
to get the senate interested in a proposal which he hoped
would lead to improved agricultural methods and thereby
improved conditions for the pioneers on public lands, that
is, those pioneers who took possession of land according to
the Homestead or Preemption laws. The proposal, which was
influenced in part by Swedish agricultural education, involved
an annual awarding of premiums to the best managed farms
within each land district, and in this fashion the encourage­ment
of pioneers to better methods and results. This in turn
would bring about increased emigration from Europe by
means of letters home of the satisfied pioneers. Ramsey did
not succeed, however, in getting sufficient support in the sen­ate
and a law in accordance with the proposal was not forth­coming.
11
Andrews also spoke, in his dispatches to Washington, on
behalf of his prize system. He proposed also, under the influ­ence
of declining figures in Swedish emigration, to attempt,
by means of federal propaganda, to bring over a new class of
immigrant, the prosperous Scandinavian farmers. To this
end, accurate information should be spread i n Scandinavia
about the economic viability of the homestead farmers. More
prosperous farmers emigrate in fact, according to Andrews,
only on the basis of clear economic calculations that farming
paid better i n America than in Sweden.1 2 Andrews' feeling of
need for immigrants with larger beginning capital grew from
the descriptions that returned emigrants gave of their difficul-
"Andrews to Hans Mattson, October 10, 1870, A . P . , vol. 78. Here
Andrews discusses his attempts to introduce the proposal through
Ramsey. During the autumn of 1870 Andrews sought to get the in­fluential
banker Jay Cooke to work for the proposal on the eve of
the Congress of 1871 and tried through Mattson and others also to
make Governor Austin of Minnesota positive to the proposal. A n ­drews
to Jay Cooke, October 10, 1870, A . P . , vol. 78; Andrews to
Mattson October 10, 1870, G.P., vol. 214, Andrews to L. K. Aaker,
August 31, 1870, A.P., vol. 78. S t . P a u l D a i l y P r e s s , June 18, 1870.
"Despatch 51, July 1,1870, from U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
ties in America. He noted also how such descriptions were
spread i n the Swedish press and what a cooling reaction they
had on prospective emigrants.13
At the very outset it had been clear to Andrews that the
reports of the immigrants home, whether in letters or on
visits, had a central importance for continued emigration, and
his opinion of this was strengthened by his beginning to view
in a Swedish manner, during his stay in Sweden, the indivi­dual
immigrant's encounter with frontier life in the American
middle west. This appears, for example, in a letter to Jay
Cooke, the financier behind the great contemporary coloniza­tion
project of the Northern Pacific Railway in northern M i n ­nesota.
Here Andrews maintained that the Northern Pacific,
if the desire was to bring about a large Scandinavian settle­ment
on its territory, could not leave to their fate the often
poor Scandinavians, after they had settled along the railroad.
If they were merely to be dropped on the land and then for­gotten
it would have been, Andrews believed, better for them
not to emigrate at all. It is something of a new convert to
Sweden speaking in the following lines:
I need not tell you that there is a great difference be­tween
an old country like this with its beautiful high­ways
and many other advantages appreciated by un­enterprising
people especially, and a complete wilderness.
Emigrants from here to our western lands have found the
change so great, have had so little sympathy shown them
by our own countrymen and have found the means of
living so expensive, that the publication of unfavorable
reports in the newspapers here, from some of them, has
not been unfrequent.14
The utter silence which Andrews' proposals met in Wash­ington
must early have made him sense his employer's lack of
interest for the cause which he himself embraced with such
great enthusiasm. Nor can his first encounter with the tradi-
1 3Despatch 60, September 7, 1870, from U.S. Legation in Stockholm,
N . A .
"Andrews to Jay Cooke, October 10. 1870, A.P., vol. 78.
90
tional activity encouraging immigration, which was conducted
from Washington, have made him especially impressed or
satisified.
In January, 1870, Andrews informed the American consul
in Gothenburg, F. K . Bazier, that a shipment of the General
Land Office's Annual Reports and maps had arrived in Ham­burg
from Washington. The reports were translated into
Swedish, and since Andrews believed that "these documents
are of course sent for distribution in a way to promote emi­gration"
he wished to have the advice of Bazier on the best
means of distributing them. Andrews himself believed that the
distribution might encounter certain difficulties because of the
anti-emigration sentiment in Sweden. Among other things he
expected, undoubtedly correctly, that "postmasters would
not be relied on, if requested, to distribute such documents
if a few were sent them."1 5
The result of Andrews' correspondence with Bazier was
that the Land Office reports were sent directly to Gothenburg
where Bazier was supposed to distribute them by means of
the steamship agents. On arrival, however, the reports were
seen to be from 1867 and in addition, according to Bazier and
Vice Consul Elfving in Stockholm, would be completely un­satisfactory
as emigration propaganda, primarily because of
the miserable Swedish translation.1 6 They were, however, dis­tributed
through the steamship agents in Gothenburg, but
above and beyond this distribution Andrews gave orders that
they be sent to all of the agricultural schools and libraries as
well as various workers' associations. In the two former cases,
Andrews hoped, in complete accordance with his plans for
increased propaganda among the prosperous, that they would
be read by "the more intelligent and enterprising of the farm­ing
peasantry."17
1 5Copy of letter from Andrews to Bazier, January 31, 1870 in Des­patches
from U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
1 6Andrews to Bazier, February 28, May 2, 1870, copies in Despatches
from U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A . Elfving to State Department,
April 15, 1870, Despathes from American Consuls in Sweden, N . A .
"Andrews to Bazier, May 2,1870, N . A .
91
Andrews did not attain any great respect for the effective­ness
of the immigration propaganda of the federal authorities
as a result of his first contact with them. Nor was he im­pressed
by Consul Bazier's ingenuity in the distribution of the
propaganda, and his opinion of Bazier's capacity was probably
one of the reasons for his argument that the American con­suls
in Sweden and Norway were not effective promoters of
emigration. He considered their ineffectiveness to be con­nected
with their Scandinavian origin which made them
negative to the idea of emigration.18
The personal propaganda for emigration which Andrews in
a careful way began to conduct during his trip to Värmland in
the fall of 1869, he intended to continue during 1870. This
time it was Norway's turn. He therefore wrote to the Nor­wegian,
L . K . Aaker, i n Minnesota and asked for hints on how
he could best arrange his trip. In this he emphasized the i m ­portance
of not wasting time by meeting the upper classes in
Norway. He wished to meet the workers and the peasants,
the potential immigrants.1 9
In order to get a government travel grant for the trip, A n ­drews
attempted through Senator Ramsey to convince the
Secretary of State of the importance such a journey would
have for emigration to the United States. Among other things,
he would have the possibility of investigating which persons
could be made Use of i n the future for distributing printed
propaganda material of the various states. To Ramsey, the
senator from Minnesota, he emphasized in addition the ad­vantage
the trip could bring especially for Minnesota since
he could spread Minnesota propaganda orally. Above all he
would, by means of his close knowledge of the land owned by
the Northern Pacific, be able to give great assistance to the
colonization work of the railroad when he answered questions
about America which would be directed to him during the
trip. On the other hand, he thought, entirely i n accordance
1 8Despatch 45, April 7, 1870, from U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
"Andrews to Aaker, April 4,1870, A . P . , vol. 77.
92
with the intentions of Washington, that for h im it was "hard­ly
advisable . . . to use direct efforts to promote emigration."20
Like Andrews' other proposals i n the course of the year
for increased federal activity for the encouragment of em­igration
in Scandinavia this received no attention in higher
circles. Andrews did not -receive any stipend for his trip to
Norway. In spite of this, during the summer of 1870 he made
a visit to Norway which, however, because of lack of funds,
was not as extensive as he originally intended. Existing evi­dence
does not permit one to determine to what degree A n ­drews,
during this journey, conducted propaganda for em­igration.
However, there is reason to believe that neither
Minnesota nor the Northern Pacific was forgotten during
the conversations he had here and there with representatives
of the peasant and working class.
Andrews continued also in other ways his self-imposed
special mission—to encourage emigration to Minnesota and,
in letters to the leading proponents of immigration in his
home state he continued to give good advice on how the
Scandinavian propaganda could be made more effective. He
maintained, for example, that it was important that the
Swedes by means of a map of all of America get a correct
conception of the position of Minnesota, so that the normal
false impression of Minnesota's extremely northern and
western position could be corrected.21 His special interest in
the Northern Pacific project was shown first of all in his
attempts to get the railroad to employ his friend and com­rade
from the war, Colonel Hans Mattson, originally from
Önnestad in the county of Kristianstad, and currently Sec­retary
of State of Minnesota, as an agent in Scandinavia.
This campaign for Mattson was pushed in letters to the
leaders of the Northern Pacific project, and the high point
was a letter to Jay Cooke.2 2 The railroad had, however, for
the moment no need of any agent in Scandinavia, but the
^Andrews to Ramsey, April 6,1870, A . P . , vol. 77.
2 1Andrews to Mattson, March 4,1870, A . P . , vol. 77.
22Andrews to Jay Cooke, October 10,1870, A . P . , vol. 78.
93
letter contributed to the fact that Hans Mattson was back in
Sweden the following year as an agent for the Lake Superior
and Mississippi Railroad Co., another railroad supported by
Jay Cooke with land holdings in Minnesota.
For Andrews this first contact with Jay Cooke developed
into a cooperation whereby Andrews did services for Jay
Cooke and the railroad up to the Northern Pacific crash in
the autumn of 1873. As his position permitted, he argued for
the great project, informed Jay Cooke about the Swedish
market for emigration, gave hints on how the propaganda
best be conducted in Sweden, and in addition helped the bank
firm of Cooke in certain bond affairs. His interest in helping
Northern Pacific and Jay Cooke's other railroads in Minneso­ta
lay in all likelihood behind his unrealized request to Wash­ington
for $500 to distribute the "valuable emigration pamph­lets
from Rail Road Companies" which he received.2 3 It is
obvious that the Northern Pacific Railroad was often in A n ­drews'
mind, as can be seen from the small hints on details
which he now and then sent to Jay Cooke, such as that the
railroad should have gardens with grass and flowers in front
of the railroad stations, as they had in Sweden, or that ex­periments
should be made with the cultivation of sugar beets
on railroad land with the aid of seeds he sent.24
From the correspondence between Andrews and Jay Cooke
it is clear that Andrews received pecuniary compensation for
the aid he gave.25 It is obvious that this was a departure from
the impartiality towards private interests a federal official
should show. It is equally apparent that the state of Minne­sota
benefited from this cooperation. Andrews had come to
accept, however, a good deal of the fear his superiors in Wash­ington
felt for openly encouraging emigration activity and
thus coming into conflict with official Sweden, as is shown in
connection with Hans Mattson's arrival in Sweden in the
^Andrews to Secretary of State, December 24, 1872, N . A.
2 4Andrews to Jay Cooke, May 18, 1872, A . P . , vol. 78. Jay Cooke to
Andrews March 6, 1872, A . P . , Box 1, folder 4.
^Jay Cooke to Andrews, April 26,1872, A . P . , Box 1, folder 4.
94
spring of 1871. A letter to Mattson in A p r i l , 1871, in which
Andrews expressed his pleasure over Mattson's impending
work for the Lake Superior Railroad and promised his help
ended with the following: "P. S. as you come along avoid
mentioning to Swedes that you expect much cooperation
from me."26
Andrews' assistance to Mattson during the latter's two year
effort to encourage immigration to the region of the Lake
Superior Railroad between St. Paul and Duluth consisted
mainly of his helping to create the image of the reliable, re­spected
Swedish-American, Hans Mattson, which was such an
important contribution to the Mattson emigration drive in
Sweden. In this task Mattson's title of Colonel was naturally
a big advantage in a Sweden very conscious of class and
titles, but it did not prevent his borrowing glitter also from
more impressive titles and offices such as those of Andrews
the general and minister. One such occasion occurred, for
example, when Andrews visited Mattson in Kristianstad in
January 1873 to be godfather to a son of Mattson. On this
occasion Andrews gave a speech to the large number assem­bled,
where naturally representatives from the press were
to be found. In the speech he praised Swedish-Americans in
general and saw in Mattson "the man most worthy of respect,
the most faithful friend, and the most reliable officer," the
incarnation of everything positive about the Swedes in Amer­ica.
General Andrews' visit, which was a big event in the gar­rison
city, included visits to the church, to the hospital, and
industries and, upon departure from the city, he was bade
farewell by ladies with flowers, after which music followed
the train to Hässleholm. But it was not only for Andrews that
they were playing, but for Mattson also who, to cap it all, was
on the train and shared in the pomp and attention.27
2 6Andrews to Mattson, April 18,1871, A . P . , vol. 78.
2 7 N y a r e K r i s t i a n s t a d g s b l a d e t , January 25, January 27, 1873. In N y a
V e r l d e n , Göteborg (a newspaper specially devoted to the interests of
the emigration industry) the description of Andrews' visit got the
typical heading "Favorable Testimonials on our Countrymen in
America" (Jan. 30, 1873).
95
During the spring of 1871 Andrews for the first time could
note an interest on the part of the State Department in Scan­dinavian
immigration. The source of the interest was, how­ever,
not any proposal from Andrews but rather Carl Lewen¬
haupt's Berättelse rörande e m i g r a t i o n e n från d e Förenade
R i k e n a t i l l A m e r i k a s Förenta S t a t e r (Account concerning the
emigration from the United Kingdoms to the United States of
America). Lewenhaupt, Sweden's Chargé affaires in Wash­ington,
was given the task in 1870 of preparing an account of
the conditions of Swedes in America. In order to collect the
material for the report, Lewenhaupt undertook, during the
summer of 1870, a journey to the Swedish sections of Illinois
and Minnesota. The Swedish Foreign Office had the account
published as a pamphlet during the spring of 1871.28 The bro­chure,
which was printed in Swedish and Norwegian, was
distributed to the Swedish and Norwegian press in Europe
and America. Everywhere it aroused great attention.
In the main the account was an objective description of the
conditions and possibilities of Swedes and Norwegians i n the
United States, and the main impression was that Lewenhaupt
found the immigrants better off than expected. On the other
hand, Lewenhaupt criticized certain unfortunate conditions in
connection with the journey of the emigrants, especially the
conditions in New York and Chicago. Something which must
especially have surprised and excited the future emigrants
in Scandinavia was Lewenhaupt's modestly enthusiastic des­cription
of the good conditions under which the farmers in
the fifteen to twenty year-old settlements lived, and the quick
increase in value of the land, which occurred as soon as a
region became more thickly populated.29
Typical for the main direction of the account was the ap-
2 8Despatch 69, November 17, 1870, from the Swedish Legation in the
United States, Diplomatica Americana, Depescher från beskickningen
i Förenta Staterna, R i k s a r k i v e t , Stockholm. On the despatch is noted:
"printed in 400 Swedish and 400 Norwegian copies."
2 9As an interesting aside, in connection with the very readable ac­count
by Lewenhaupt, the support for Frederick Jackson Turner's
96
preciation it received in the Scandinavian press in America
where it came out as a series in several newspapers during the
spring of 1871.30 Andrews had the same positive reaction to
the report, and when he sent a translation of it to Washington
he stated that: "the spirit of the report appears to me to be
excellent."3 1 This is surely a reaction completely opposite to
that which had been expected from Swedish official quarters
when they decided that the account should be published. In
all likelihood, a hope lay behind the decision to publish that
the descriptions of the difficulties of the emigrants during the
journey and in the first months after arrival would have the
effect of discouraging emigration.
Certain statements in the report, however, Andrews
opposed, for example, that it often happened that the rail­road
did not pay wages to the workers, that all homestead
land was gone within sixty miles of the railroads, that a
hundred and sixty dollars were needed in order to start
a homestead farm, and that the Swedes and the Norwegians
in America were uninterested in politics. Concerning the
hundred sixty dollars, Andrews maintained that the immi-thesis
on the democratizing influence of the frontier can be mentioned.
Lewenhaupt discusses equality as follows: "The new settler who is
directly moved from his home country to the west imagines naturally
that this social equality is dependent on the republican form of gov­ernment,
but it is actually only a necessary result of the fact that in
the west all are on the same level of education, all have the same
living habits, and the same opportunity to have their needs satisfied
if, which is also normally the case, they possess a pair of strong arms.
Even in Chicago equality is less and in the older states a significant
absence of equality is to be found, although the determining causes
are not the same as in Europe." p. 10.
3 0Thus the report was published in its entirety in H e m l a n d e t , April
18 ff. and S v e n s k a A m e r i k a n a r e n , April 4 ff. The commentary of
S v e n s k a M o n i t o r e n can be considered representative of the reaction
of the Scandinavian press to the report. The newspaper stated with
pleasure that the account was impartial: "surprising especially when
one considers that the good count was sent out by a government such
as that of Sweden and Norway whose antipathy to emigration has so
clearly been demonstrated." S v e n s k a M o n i t o r e n (Minneapolis), March
22, 1871. The report was also favorably noted in the English-language
press, e.g. S t . P a u l D a i l y P r e s s , March 17, April 26, 1871.
3 1Despatch 93, March 3, 1871, U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
97
grant could work and save enough money during the six
months per year when he was allowed to be away from the
homestead land, and as far as the Scandinavians' lack of
political interest, he maintained that they were in the north­west
clearly committed Republicans. In the main, how­ever,
Andrews believed that the account was favorable for
America's attempts to encourage immigration and that
"America could not regret its extensive circulation in Sweden
and Norway."32
At the end of his description of the Lewenhaupt account
Andrews mentioned that, because of a mistake in translation,
the account in the Norwegian version had presented the no­tion
that the American government was opposed to immi­gration.
Andrews had protested to Foreign Minister Wacht¬
meister who promised to correct the mistake.33
This error, which even before Andrews' dispatch had ar­rived
in Washington had been mentioned to the State Depart­ment
by the American Consul in Norway, Gade, was what
prompted action by the State Department concerning Scan­dinavian
emigration. Andrews received immediate orders to
obtain a denial in the Norwegian newspapers. At the same
time, however, it was emphasized, characteristic of the State
Department's caution in the question of immigration, that "you
w i l l of course be careful to publish nothing over your own
signature."3 4 Andrews' protests led to denials in the Norwe­gian
press, but in a form which did not satisfy Andrews who,
however, thought that he could not do anything more about
the matter.35
March 20, 1871, Andrews was ready on the basis of the
knowledge which he obtained from almost two years in Scan­dinavia
to prepare his first well thought through plan for
3 3The mistake was that the "United Kingdoms" in one place had
been translated the "United States."
3 4State Department to Andrews, March 13, 1871, U.S. Legation in
Stockholm, N . A .
3 5Despatch 99, March 18, 1871, U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
98
federal immigration propaganda in the North. Its basis was
naturally enough increased homestead propaganda, something
which had been a favorite of Andrews from the beginning. As
a point of departure for his plan he took the Scandinavians'
good knowledge of and contact with America, which he con­sidered
made them more receptive to immigration propaganda
than most peoples in Europe. For this reason effective prop­aganda
about the Homestead Act, which was unexpectedly
little known i n Scandinavia, could result in a much larger
immigration. Furthermore the propaganda drive in the home­land
of the emigrants would from the beginning give America
more worthy immigrants since "the better class of them gen­erally
make up their minds as to their particular destination
b e f o r e embarking."3 6 The most effective and economic means
of spreading propaganda was to make use of the many steam­ship
agents in Scandinavia. These would be given the task
in their advertisements of informing about homestead law
and land so that it reached those who were really interested.
Andrews also prepared a proposal for an advertisement. It
began: "Free Homes! The United States of North America
donate homesteads of one hundred and sixty acres . . . ."
The pamphlet should be published by the General Land Of­fice
since, in Scandinavia, a very great importance was placed
on information from officials. The facts in the brochure should
be obtained from the directors of federal land offices who
were in daily contact with the settlers. In this way, the pamph­let
would contain information about homestead land and the
position and chances in various parts of America for the
homesteading farmer. Andrews maintained that, up to this
point, there had been no pamphlet with adequate circulation
to encourage effectively emigration from Scandinavia. The
pamphlet which came from the individual states had had such
small editions that they could not have an effect. Finally he
maintained that his idea should be presented to the President
personally.
3 6Despatch 100, March 20, 1871. U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
99
Andrews' proposal did not lead to any great federal home­stead
campaign in Sweden. To be sure the State Department
noted that Andrews' dispatch contained "some valuable and
interesting suggestions on the subject of the dissemination . ..
of information calculated to increase emigration to this coun­try"
and a copy of the dispatch was sent to the Secretary of
the Interior, but that is where it stopped.37
It is very likely that the federal authorities considered
Andrews' propaganda proposal rather aggressive. It is possi­ble
futhermore that in Washington it was considered that the
two hundred thirty page S p e c i a l R e p o r t o n I m m i g r a t i o n pub­lished
by the Chief of the Statistical Bureau, Edward Young,
would fill the need for information. Andrews received fifty
copies of this report but considered, without doubt correctly,
that the thick report was no effective propaganda device. How­ever,
in accordance with his charge, he sent the report to the
two agricultural colleges at Ultuna and Alnarp and provided
certain steamship agents in Gothenburg with copies.38 A later
proposal from Andrews, still feeling the lack of a handy con­cise
pamphlet, to accept an offer from the Norwegian Consul
Gade to translate Young's report into Norwegian and print
and distribute two thousand copies, all for $1000, did not lead
to any action.39
Andrews subsequently received statistical works from
Washington for distribution in Sweden and Norway. In the
spring of 1872, for example, he received six hundred copies
of the General Land Office Report.4 0 The distribution of this
considerable quantity was on the one hand expensive (An­drews
asked for two hundred dollars extra for the purpose),
and on the other Andrews was quite unsure to whom he
should distribute the report. In letters to Mattson he told of
his dilemma, and that he had decided to send one copy to
3 7State Department to Andrews, June 14, 1871, U.S. Legation in
Stockholm, N . A .
3 8Despatch 115, July 20,1871, U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
3 9Despatch 119, August 9,1871, U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
^Despatch 152, April 6, 1872, U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
100
every public library and school library and half-desperately
throws out the question "How would it do to send one to
each county saloon?" (Gästgivaregård)—an idea which he
surely on good grounds almost immediately discarded with
the following sentence: "I fear it wouldn't do much good."41
Despite the fact that Washington regularly turned a deaf
ear to Andrews' many ideas concerning the encouragement
of immigration, the minister did not give up and in the spring
of 1873 he presented once again a detailed plan of how one
could get "agriculturists possessed of money" to emigrate.42
To this end, he asked to be able "to employ a man for one
year to visit as many of the p e a s a n t f a r m e r s in Sweden as
practicable and give them verbal information about the United
States and to have [sic] with them suitable immigration doc­uments,
at an expense not exceeding three thousand dollars."
Andrews was also very sure of who should take care of the
task. John Millar, a Swedish American in Goodhue County
in Minnesota with a good reputation among his countrymen
on both sides of the Atlantic, would be willing to travel to
Sweden and would surely "discreetly and zealously perform
the duties required."4 3 In order to present the printed material
which would complement the agent's verbal information, A n ­drews
asked for an additional $2000.
The whole project differs from the official activity in ad­vertisements,
in the press, and open distribution of pamphlets
and maps which Andrews earlier had argued for. The pro­posal
shows how Andrews, during the four years in Sweden,
not only had adjusted himself to the fear of the Federal Gov­ernment
of official encouragement of immigration, but also,
and perhaps above all, to the situation in the Swedish emi­gration
market as a result of the relatively good economic
conditions in Sweden during the 1870s. The Swedish repelling
"Andrews to Mattson, April 6,1872, A . P . , vol. 77, Letterpress book.
4 2Despatch 192, May 26,1873, U.S. Legation in Stockholm, N . A .
4 3John Millar in 1870 had introduced an immigration bill in the
Minnesota legislature. In this bill Millar asked primarily for the
establishment of immigrant reception halls in St. Paul, Minneapolis,
and Red Wing (St. P a u l D a i l y P r e s s , February 13, 1870).
101
factors which had driven people from Sweden were not as
strong now as during the famine years at the end of the 1860s.
Emigration was no longer in the air in the same way as then,
and advertisements and other written matter were not suffic­ient
to get the almost decided emigrant definitely to make
up his mind and take off. The emigration climate now
demanded a more individual treatment, especially if one de­sired
to encourage people with more capital than merely the
money for the trip. This individual treatment could consist
in the first place of positive accounts of life portrayed in
letters from previously emigrated relatives and friends. Those
who were encouraging immigration to Minnesota, including
Andrews, had early been conscious of the value of letters and
this led to Andrews' efforts to set a lowering of postal rates
and better conditions for the settlers. In addition, the indivi­dual
treatment could be handled by Swedish Americans re­turning
home, who in their former localities told of the new
country and its possibilities. Andrews' proposal meant that
such a "Yankee" activity, as the private immigration pro­moters
called it, should be conducted on the national level.
A good deal indicates that the originator of the idea was
Hans Mattson, in whose work for the Lake Superior Railroad
local "Yankees" operated in their respective home commun­ities.
They were potent support for the personal influence
which he exercised when visiting the homes of specially se­lected
persons throughout the country. It was therefore sure­ly
no chance that Millar possessed merits which were very
similar to those of Mattson. Like him, Millar had obtained a
name for himself within Minnesota politics and also, like
Mattson a few years earlier, as a successful Swedish American
he had visited his old home district. He was also from Good­hue
County.44
Andrews' choice of a Minnesotan corresponded very well
^Mattson had visited Sweden for five months in 1869 and at the end
of his stay brought with him to America about four hundred persons
from his old home district. See Tell G. Dahllöf, "Three Americans
look at Sweden," SPHQ, XVII (1966), 179-183.
102
with his special interest in immigration to Minnesota. The
"verbal information" which the agent would give was in the
first place concerned with that part of America he knew best,
in this case, Minnesota.
That these unofficial methods of propaganda would please
the State Department in a quite different way from previous
proposals was to be expected, but also that the amount of
money asked would not arouse the same enthusiasm. Both
of these matters were in the answer of the State Department.
In contrast to earlier action, when usually only the receipt of
the proposal had been confirmed, the State Department stated
this time, in its refusal, that the plan was very worth attempt­ing,
and that it was only the restricted funds they possessed
which prevented its acceptance.45
By this refusal Washington had said no to all of the activ­ities
which the various persons encouraging immigration to
America were using in Sweden, from advertisements, articles,
pamphlets, through individual verbal discussion in private.
Andrews' enthusiam and wealth of ideas had not been able to
overcome the disinclination of the officials of the Federal
Government to engage in a propaganda drive for emigration
resembling that which the other "salesmen" of America or
the federal authorities of the neighbor to the north, the Do­minion
of Canada, simultaneously conducted in Sweden.
It is not surprising that Andrews in subsequent dispatches
seldom returned to emigration and its promotion. Andrews
never became a colleague of other "salesmen" of American
land, labor, or transport. Nor did he in this way fulfill the
hopes that in Minnesota had been placed in his stay in Swe­den.
On the other hand, Minnesota and the entire United
States in the course of time received benefit from Andrews'
years in Sweden. The forest conservation he saw in Sweden
subsequently induced him to promote lumbering and forestry
in Minnesota. Andrews' eight years in Sweden in this fashion
4 5State Department to Andrews, June 25, 1873, U.S. Legation in
Stockholm, N . A .
103
gave Minnesota its "Apostle of Forestry."4 6 Andrews could,
moreover, after his return from Minnesota, derive pleasure
from the fact that Scandinavian immigration to Minnesota
was growing. This was in large degree a result of the steady
stream of information from Scandinavians in the state. The
significance of this stream had clearly been seen by Andrews
during his time in Stockholm and the sources of information,
the Scandinavians in Minnesota, could in the future derive
benefit from the lower postal charges for which he had so
energetically pleaded.
4 6W. W. Folwell, A H i s t o r y of M i n n e s o t a (St. Paul, 1930), vol. 4, p.
38 ff.
104

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GENERAL C. C. ANDREWS,
HIGH-PLACED IMMIGRATION
AGENT IN SWEDEN
LARS LJUNGMARK
Many Minnesotans followed with eager interest the efforts
which were made toward the end of the 1860s to encourage
immigration to their young state. One of these was General
C. C. Andrews from St. Cloud who, in a letter to Governor
Marshall i n March, 1869, proposed that the official Minnesota
brochure should be sent to three thousand of Andrews'
former comrades in arms who were then living in Ohio,
Illinois, and Iowa. Andrews was willing himself to take care
of the distribution. One thousand numbers were immediately
sent to Andrews.1 Later during the year the general came to
have additional outlets for his interest in immigration to
Minnesota when he early in July found himself in Stockholm
as the minister of the United States to Sweden-Norway.
That in Minnesota there were high expectations for A n ­drews'
possibilities to work in Stockholm for an increased
immigration of Scandinavians to the state appears clearly
from the comments on his nomination which were made in
the leading newspaper of the state, the S t . P a u l D a i l y P r e s s.
The expectations were based on the fact that Andrews was
as a Minnesotan "representing a state, a large portion of
whose population was from Norway and Sweden." That A n ­drews
shared this view the newspaper indicated by speaking
of how, when he was named as ambassador to Stockholm
after first having been indicated as ambassador to Copen-
1 Andrews to Marshall, March 3, 1868, file 208, Governor's Paper [s?],
Minnesota State Archives.
84
hagen, "at once expressed his cordial willingness to acquiesce
in a change which would enable him to be more useful to his
State."2
It is therefore evident that in his home state Minister
Andrews in Stockholm was first of all thought of as a highly
placed immigration agent.for Minnesota. The question is
whether he became that or whether his federal position forced
a more all-inclusive American encouragement of emigration
on his part in Sweden and Norway? Was there, on the whole,
any such activity? These are the questions which the follow­ing
investigation of Andrews' period as minister of Stockholm
1869-1877 will attempt to answer. The investigation is mainly
based on material from Andrews' papers in the Minnesota
Historical Society's Manuscript Department i n St. Paul and
from State Department records in the National Archives in
Washington, D.C.
Emigration from Sweden was not an automatic movement
which, without influence, slowly but surely brought over
1,250,000 Swedes to the United States. It was to a high de­gree
the result of a conscious immigration promotion con­ducted
by parties interested in immigration to the United
States, such as the various states, land companies, land grant
railroads, the Atlantic shipping lines, and Swedish-Americans
independently and as groups. Their interest in increased im­migration
was connected with their having "goods" to sell,
"goods" that were sought by many Europeans not least of all
the Swedes. The important goods were land, work, and trans­portation.
In their "sales activities" advertising and informa­tion
about the product were included as a natural part. This
advertising and information was also conducted in Sweden
in letters from America, by means of the accounts of return­ing
emigrants, i n pamphlets, articles in newspapers, and ad­vertisements,
and became in Sweden the emigration prop­aganda
which came to mean so much for Swedish emigration.
To a large degree it was a matter of an organized propaganda
2 S t . P a u l D a i l y P r e s s , June 6, June 9,1869.
85
activity, and this organization was built up during the first
wave of mass Swedish emigration toward the end of the 1860s.
The propaganda drive was therefore in full action when Gen­eral
Andrews arrived in Stockholm during the summer of 1869
as minister of the United States.
The federal authorities in the U.S. also belonged to those
interested in increased European immigration to the United
States. The "product" they had to offer was the young country
of the future, the United States of America, with all its slum­bering
resources and potentialities. The federal authorities
had the same motivation to conduct a "sales campaign" in
Sweden as all of the other persons interested in immigration,
and during the Civil War a great deal of activity had been
shown in this connection.3 That Andrews was willing to take
a part himself in the activity was to be expected in the same
fashion as his desire in this way to encourage immigration to
his home state Minnesota.
The first period in Sweden for Andrews was quite naturally
a period of learning during which he became accustomed to
his new position in a new country. His energy, as it seems
from his diaries, was impressive. He began, for example, im­mediately
to take private lessons in Swedish.4 After a short
period he considered himself also capable, on the eve of the
coming year's immigration activity, to give his friends in
Minnesota some good advice. In a letter to Governor Marshall
he sent, therefore, a pamphlet which the Louisiana Board of
Immigration had distributed in Sweden. Andrews' hope was
that those favoring immigration to Minnesota could get a
few tips from the pamphlet. He himself in the letter spoke
mainly for another cheaper and better way of publicizing
3Florence Janson, T h e B a c k g r o u n d of S w e d i s h I m m i g r a t i o n (Chi­cago,
1931), p. 155 ff.
4Andrews' diaries are found in Andrews' Papers, Archives of the
Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul (hereafter abbreviated A . P . ) .
They have formed the basis for his memoirs which were published
after his death (C. C. Andrews, R e c o l l e c t i o n s 1 8 2 9 - 1 9 2 2 [Cleveland,
1928]). His time as minister in Stockholm is treated relatively fully.
Activities concerning the promotion of emigration are not, however,
mentioned.
86
advertising for Minnesota. B y means of advertisements sev­eral
weeks in a row in the most widely read newspapers in
Sweden one would be able to distribute "a concise practical
statement of the ways and means of obtaining and cultivating
advance homesteads under the Homestead Law."5 It was
entirely in order that the representative of the federal govern­ment
came with proposals for increased information concern­ing
the Homestead Law, but it is typical, however, that the
proposal was first sent to those who were favoring immigra­tion
to Minnesota. Another early proposal from Andrews also
emanated from his special concerns about immigration to
Minnesota. In letters to various Minnesotans, Andrews spoke
warmly about the reduction of postal rates between America
and Sweden. Such a reduction would, he maintained, encour­age
emigration from Scandinavia to Minnesota because it
would make possible a much more lively correspondence be­tween
Swedish-Americans and the old country. That Minne­sota,
with its great Scandinavian population, would have
special benefit from such a reform was obvious. In the letters
Andrews requested help with petitions and delegations to the
Postmaster General to whom he at the right time would
present the proposal.6
But Andrews did not restrict himself exclusively to giving
his own state Minnesota good advice. He began as early as the
autumn of 1869 with extreme care in regard to his position
to conduct a limited form of emigration propaganda. After
5Andrews to Marshall, November 20, 1869, A . P . , vol. 77.
6Andrews to L. K. Aaker (leading Norwegian in Minnesota), Aug­ust
11, 1869: Andrews to Marshall, September 12, 1868; Andrews to
Washburn (Minnesota senator), August 26, 1869; Andrews to Edwin
F. Johnson (chief engineer with the Northern Pacific), September 29,
1869, A . P . Pressures from Minnesota led to a statement by the Post­master
General in which he sympathized with the requests but point­ed
out that postage to the Scandinavian countries could not immedi­ately
be reduced since the mail was sent by way of northern Germany
and this postage rate would first have to be reduced ( S t . P a u l D a i ly
P r e s s , January 20, 1870). In the summer of 1873 Andrews, however,
had the satisfaction of ratifying an agreement on reduced postage
between the United States and Sweden-Norway. Postage was then
lowered from 14«! to 9^ to Sweden and from 154 to 10